No More Death, No More Murder
by Micky Fine
Summary: STORY COMPLETE! The team investigates a crime involving one of their own. GS
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: No More Death, No More Murder

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

SYNOPSIS: The team investigates a crime involving one of their own. GS.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters on CSI, any other characters that show up in this fic are mine and you're welcome to use them if you like. I am making no profit from this piece of fiction.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is my first CSI fic, so some of the science may not be quite right. The plot strands may be a little tired so if you have any ideas on how to give it some new life let me know. There will be more to follow, but reviews help me work faster.

Reviews always welcome.

The case had been straight from a textbook, right down to the motive. Man and a woman found shot in her apartment. All bullets and casings found. Simple blood spatter. Prints and hair everywhere. After Nick and Sara had processed all the evidence it had become evident that the woman's boyfriend, who was not the other victim, had committed the crime. Sara had been disappointed with the simplicity of the case and although Nick hadn't said anything she could tell he was too.

All they needed to really cement their case was the murder weapon and the suspect. That was why Sara and Nick we're standing outside of a dumpy apartment on Friday afternoon wearing bulletproof vests waiting for the police team to clear the apartment. As she waited, Sara contemplated the usefulness of the vest. It did protect her vital organs but if she were shot in the head it wouldn't make any difference.

"You know what we need?" she said to Nick.

"What?"

"Bulletproof hats or helmets or something?"

"And you were thinking about this why?"

"Because this vest is uncomfortable and that made me think about the vest. And that made me think about how it doesn't protect my head..."

"And that made you think about the helmets. Sara, I think you had a little too much coffee today."

"What makes you say that?"

They were interrupted when Brass poked his head out the door, "It's all clear, you guys can do your thing now."

"We'll finish this later," Sara said with a fake glare.

Nick just shook his head.

As they entered the apartment Sara wrinkled her nose. It was even dumpier on the inside than it was on the outside.

"Not only is this guy not to bright he's really unorganized," she commented to Nick.

He shrugged.

Gesturing with her hands Sara said, "I'll take the left, you take the right."

Nick glanced at what she had given him, "Sure give me the bathroom AND the kitchen."

"Hey, I'm stuck with the bedroom," she once again wrinkled her nose in disgust. From here she could see the dirty clothes strewn on the floor, underwear prominently in sight.

Nick chuckled, "Come on, let's get this over with."

Sara nodded, pulled on her gloves, picked up her case and walked into the bedroom. There was a smell that reminded her of a high school locker room. Since she knew the suspect wasn't too bright she decided to look in the obvious spots. 

First she checked in and under the bed. Plenty of dust bunnies but no weapon. Then she checked on top of the dresser and then forced herself to go through it. There were more clothes on the floor than in the dresser and she still hadn't found the weapon. She then methodically inspected the bedside table and a small writing desk. She was about to go through the mounds of clothing on the floor when she spotted the closet. It wasn't particularly obvious being painted in the same grungy color as the rest of the room. Figuring there was nothing more obvious than the closet she pulled open the door and found herself staring down the barrel of a gun.

After Nick had gone through the entire bathroom from ceiling tiles to floor tiles he decided to see if Sara had found anything before he tackled the kitchen. He had to go down the hallway a short distance before he reached the bedroom and just as he reached the edge of the doorway he caught a glance of Sara with her hands in the air, backing away from the closet. Nick thought she was surrendering to the dust bunnies and made a note to not let her have any more coffee for the rest of the day. And then he saw the man exit the closet with the gun pointed at her head.

As Sara glanced between the gun and the face of the man holding it, she really wished she had that bulletproof hat. As she looked at the gun she noticed that it was already cocked, all that had to happen for the gun to go off was for him to squeeze the trigger. She took a deep, shaky breath.

"Don't even think about screaming or I'll shoot you before they can get here."

"I won't scream. Just put the gun down and this will be much easier."

"You mean put the gun down so I can arrest you. I don't think so."

"C'mon, you don't really want to shoot me, I just do forensic stuff. I couldn't arrest you, but the police can. And I happen to know quite a few people on the force who would be quite upset if you did something to me."

"I doubt they'll know you're gone if I shoot you all."

"Shoot all of us?"

"Yeah, you and those cops that were snooping around while I was in here."

"Trust me, you don't want to shoot all of us. If you did other cops would come and hunt you down for hurting one of their own. And when they caught you, you'd have to spend several lifetimes in jail."

"Well, then maybe I'll just take you with me."

"Believe me, I'd be a lousy hostage, I have a tendency to fight, kick, scream and stuff. You don't want to take me."

"Well, then I guess we're back where we started."

"We are indeed."

There was silence for what seemed like hours. Knowing it was the only thing left to do, Sara prepared herself for what she was going to do and took a deep breath.

"BRASS!"

She heard the trigger click, but didn't feel the pain of a bullet racing into her skull. Realizing that the gun had misfired she did the fastest thing she could think of to disable the suspect. She kicked him in the balls. He howled and dropped to his knees. Then, Sara stepped on his wrist causing his hand to flutter open and release the gun. Suddenly, as if he appeared out of thin air, Nick swooped in and took the gun and soon they were surrounded by what seemed like fifty policeman.

Realizing what had almost happened, Sara felt her hands begin to shake and her knees felt like they wouldn't support her for another second. Thankfully, Nick once again came to her rescue by putting a hand around her waist and pulling her out of the room.

Nick watched the color disappear from Sara's face. She was just about to go into shock. Pulling her closer to his side, he began to lead her out of the building.

"C'mon Sara, let's get out of here."


	2. Chapter 2

TITLE: No More Death, No More Murder

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

DISCLAIMER: None of the characters that you recognize from the show are mine. All others came from my head. Any similarity to characters previously on the show is not intended. I am making no profit from this piece of fiction.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry it took me so long to post the next chapter, things have been a little hectic lately. Thank you to all of you who wrote wonderful reviews. They are deeply appreciated. Just a little thing, I know it's unlikely that you can actually see the stars in Vegas but let's just call it artistic license.

Reviews always welcome.

Nick pulled up to the front of the lab and turned off the car. He then turned and looked at Sara in concern. She was staring straight ahead and her face was very pale. Her hands were in her lab, clenched so tightly that the knuckles had turned white.

"Sara?" he said softly.

Her reaction was a slightly delayed before she turned to look at him.

"I'm going inside, I'll be right back. You stay here."

She stared right through him for a moment and then said, "Ok."

With one more concerned look he stepped out of the car and headed inside.

Gil Grissom was doing paperwork at his desk when he heard someone breathing. He was once again thankful for the return of his hearing. Looking up, he saw Nick leaning against the entrance to his office.

"Back already?"

"Yup."

"Get the weapon."

"Yup."

"Get the suspect."

"Yup."

"Good, I have a new case for you and Sara to work on."

"Yeah, about that..."

"Where's Sara?"

Sara was surprised by a sudden blast of hot air when the passenger side door opened to reveal Gil Grissom. She blinked, trying to reduce the fuzziness of her brain. When that didn't work she shook her head, attempting to clear it and somehow focus on what was going on around her. Some clarity returned to her and she noticed Nick standing several feet away looking at her with concern. She attempted to smile at him and then returned her gaze to Grissom.

"Hey Sara," he said softly.

"What's up Gris?"

"Oh nothing really, Nick just told me what happened."

"Oh."

There was a moment of silence. It was broken when Sara removed her seatbelt and turned her body towards Grissom.

"So, have you got a new case for me and Nick? Or do you want us to finish the paperwork on this one first?"

"Sara, honey, you're not going back to work today."

"I'm fine, Gris, honest."

"No. You are most definitely not fine. You're still in shock."

"I can shake it off. Just give me a couple minutes and I can be all pulled together and back to work."

"Sara, you almost DIED. I know that's tough to think about, but you did. In fact, if the gun hadn't misfired you would be dead. And that's not easy for anybody to handle. So, no, you're not going back to work."

"But Gris..."

"No buts. No more death and no more murder for you today. Period. End of discussion."

"Fine."

Sara gazed at Grissom for a moment, attempting to read his thoughts behind his blue eyes. Unsuccessful, she pointedly looked at the ground and the door.

"Can you move so I can get out of the car and go home?"

Gris moved aside, but as Sara stood up her knees gave out on her and she almost fell to the pavement. Fortunately, Grissom caught her before she hit the ground.

"You're still not quite yourself. Just sit in the car for a minute."

"Like I have any choice."

She watched him walk over to Nick and have a very brief discussion. Grissom turned to look at her once more before walking back inside. She turned back to look at Nick, who was coming towards her.

"Looks like you need to hand over your keys."

"What?"

"Gris wants me to drive you home."

Rolling her eyes, she grabbed Nick's offered hand and was grateful for the strength keeping her upright.

Grissom stared at the paper in front of him. It seemed to him that he might have been staring at it for several hours. He glanced at his watch. It had been four hours since he had sent Sara home. Four hours he had been sitting here staring at this piece of paper. It hit him once again what he had almost lost. Sara would have been dead right now if the gun hadn't misfired. A fluke occurrence had saved her life. He mentally thanked whatever power had allowed that to occur. He could have lost her. Again. He shuddered.  Today had been too close. Much too close. It scared him how close he had come to losing her. And it scared him how much it scared him. He wasn't supposed to feel like this.

And then he wondered why. Why he couldn't have feelings for a wonderful, smart and sexy woman. And then he suddenly realized that he could. That he could even act on those feelings. There was nothing barring the way. Except for him. Shocked at his mental discovery he grabbed his jacket. He needed to get out and think about what to do. He didn't have to be here for the shift. Catherine could handle things. He needed to plan and figure out what he was going to do.

Sara felt the cold cement against her back. And then the sensation seemed to fade. She felt as if she were soaring upwards towards the stars and if she just reached out...she could touch them. She tried and was startled back to reality by a sudden pain in her arm. Then she felt the warm wetness against her body. Attempting to tune out the pain, she once again turned her gaze to the stars she could see ever so faintly behind the bright lights of Las Vegas. It was one of the things she missed from home. At night she would go out and just stare at the stars. They were mesmerizing for her. Again the pain cut into her thoughts. She groaned. And then the lights of the city and the stars disappeared into the dark. Faintly, in the distance, she heard the sound of sirens.


	3. Chapter 3

TITLE: No More Death, No More Murder

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

DISCLAIMER: None of the characters from the show belong to me. Everyone else is from my brain. Any similarity to previous characters on the show is unintended. I am making no profit from this piece of fiction.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you once again for all of your wonderful reviews. They are deeply appreciated. Some of you were a bit confused by the ending but hopefully all will be revealed in this next chapter. Thank you all once again.

Reviews always welcome.

Jim Brass was cruising the strip, something he rarely did. He barely even realized he was doing so, as he was absorbed in his thoughts. He was really unhappy about how things had gone at the scene today. He had been shocked that an officer had failed to clear a closet. A closet. One of the most obvious hiding places since the invention of Hide-and-Seek. He had given the officer a severe dressing down but he still felt uneasy. Maybe it was because of how close Sara had come to losing her life. It was a shock. But he had that feeling like the other shoe hadn't fallen yet. He didn't get the feeling often. But he had learned to trust it.

Just then his radio came to life. It squawked and then he heard crime in progress a block from where he was. He immediately turned the sirens on and sped to the location.

Brass's headlights illuminated the scene. There was a young woman lying on the sidewalk in a pool of her own blood. Jim had barely stopped his car before he was out the door and next to the victim. She was unconscious but he found a fluttery pulse with a sigh of relief. Then he noticed the bullet hole below her collarbone on the left side. He removed his jacket and pressed it against the wound. Then he looked at the victim.

She was a young woman in her mid to late twenties. She was wearing what he would describe as the stereotypical "little black dress" and chunky black heels. Her brown hair was pulled back in what his wife had called a French twist. As he studied her face he suddenly realized who it was.

"Oh shit!"

Gil Grissom had also been cruising the strip. He also barely realized he was doing so. His mind was wrapped up in thoughts of Sara. Sara and him. Solving cases. Having dinner. All sorts of normal things. These blissful thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone.

"Grissom."

"Gil, it's Brass. You need to come here right now. I'm a block from the south end of the strip."

"Brass, I'm taking the night off. If you need a CSI, call Catherine. She's in charge tonight."

"Gil, I don't need a CSI. Yet. But you want to be here."

"Why?"

"It's Sara."

"What about her?"

Grissom screeched to a halt and arrived just moments before the ambulance. He stared in shock at the sight before him.

Jim Brass was staring in relief at the ambulance. The important factor was the young woman lying on the sidewalk. She was dressed up.  Her eyes were closed but she was facing upwards towards the night sky. The most important factor was the blood pouring from her profusely.

"Sara!" he managed to choke out.

It was so unfair. She had just narrowly avoided being shot this afternoon and then she was attacked tonight. It was ultimately unfair.

Behind him he heard an intake of breath and another man choke out the same name. Grissom turned to see Hank. Hank, the paramedic. Hank, the cheater. He watched his face go from fear to professional detachment. Grabbing his case and following the other paramedic, they walked over to where Sara was lying. The removed what Grissom assumed was Jim's jacket and began checking her over. He listened to their conversation.

"Gun shot wound to the chest."

"Looks like she was in a fight."

"Whoa! She's got another gunshot wound on the underside of her left arm. Looks like it hit her brachial artery. We've got to stop this bleeding or she doesn't stand a chance."

Grissom was interrupted from his listening to what was happening by a tap on the shoulder. He turned to see Catherine standing behind him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, his brow creased.

"Jim called me. I was driving to work and I was close by. How is she?"

"From what I've heard she has two gunshot wounds and one hit an artery. She could bleed to death before they get her to the hospital."

Catherine looked at him in shock and they both turned back to watch Hank and the other paramedic help Sara.

"Ok, I've got the bleeding stopped temporarily. How's her pulse?"

"It's as steady as it's ever going to be."

"So she's stable enough to move?"

"I hope so."

Catherine and Grissom watched as they rolled Sara onto a board and then lifted her up and headed toward the ambulance.

"I've got to go with her."

"No Gris. She needs you here. She needs you to figure out what bastard did this to her. I'll go. Besides, I'm her emergency contact."

"Her emergency contact?"

"I have a say on what happens to her and what they do. You can't do anything at the hospital. Sara needs you here on this case."

"Work the case and find the bastard."

"Exactly."

"Take care of her."

"I will."

Grissom watched as Catherine talked briefly to Hank and then climbed into the ambulance. Then with siren wailing the ambulance drove off at breakneck speed. There was nothing he could do.

Nick and Warrick walked up to the scene and saw Grissom standing alone looking dejected. They had barely been given any details about the crime. Brass had just phoned them and told them to get there ASAP. There was no crime scene tape.  There was also no body. Curious they walked over to Grissom.

"What's up Gris?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah, where's the vic?" Nick added.

"They took Sara to the hospital."

"Sara?!?" Nick and Warrick chorused in disbelief.

"Yeah," Grissom stated wearily.

With shock all three turned to survey the scene.

The silence was interrupted by Jim Brass.  
"Ok guys, let's get to work."

All three turned to survey him and the short, red-haired, middle-aged woman behind him.

"Who's this?" Nick asked.

"This is our eye witness, Kelly Watts."


	4. Chapter 4

TITLE: No More Death, No More Murder

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

DISCLAIMER: None of the characters from the show belong to me no matter how much I beg and plead. Anyone else you don't recognize came from my head. I am making no profit from this piece of fiction.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry it took me so long to post another chapter but things are so busy. I'm not sure I'm going to continue with this fic, so if you'd like to see more please let me know. This chapter is really long to sort of make up for the time I haven't been posting. Also, I wanted to get all of this stuff into one chapter.

Reviews always welcome.

"This is our eye witness Kelly Watts."

Grissom turned to look at the woman. She seemed to be in shock at what had gone on. He sympathized with her. He could feel the shock welling up from within his body threatening to overwhelm him. But he couldn't let it. He put up mental walls around it, ignored it for the time being. He needed detachment to work the case. And to help Sara the best way he knew how. He nodded at Brass and at the woman and then he turned to Warrick and Nick.

"Warrick, I want you to photograph the scene. Every single square inch if you have to. After you're done I want you to study the blood spatter, see if you can figure out how the attack was carried out."

"Nick, I want you to look for any evidence of who the attacker was. Check for hair, threads, anything. If Sara fought her attacker she would know to leave evidence somewhere."

Both men nodded and headed off to do their assigned tasks. Proud of the detachment his people could use, even in a case as close to their hearts as this, he turned back to Brass and the eyewitness.

"So, Miss Watts, what were you doing out here?" Gil asked.

"I'm a waitress at that restaurant and bar down the street," she pointed behind her as she spoke.

Gil turned and saw a gigantic neon martini glass with an olive. He nodded.

She continued, "My shift had just ended and I was walking to the car park over there," once again she pointed and Gil once again noted the location.

"Why did you notice the young woman across the street?" Brass asked.

"I heard her heels on the sidewalk and I was admiring her outfit when this man approached her."

"What did the man look like?" Grissom asked urgently.

"I couldn't tell. It was dark and he was wearing dark clothing. He was tall though. He was at least a head taller than her and from what I could tell she was wearing two or three inch heels," she looked at Grissom questioningly.

"That will help us a little bit. What happened after he approached her?"

"They talked for a little bit. Then it seemed like she suddenly realized who it was, and wanted to get away. That's when they started fighting. As soon as I saw them starting to struggle I called the police on my cell phone. I didn't really pay attention to them while I was on the phone. The department wanted so many details I couldn't pay attention to both. After I hung up though, that was when he pulled out the gun. I couldn't tell what it was at first and then he fired a shot that went wild and hit a sign above my head. I hid behind a parked car after that. I didn't see anything else but I did hear two gunshots. After the second one there was a thudding sound. And then the sound of someone running away. A couple minutes after that, you arrived," Kelly finished pointing at Brass as she concluded.

"Thank you, Miss Watts, that was very helpful," Grissom said and then indicated to Brass that he was finished. 

As he walked over to see how Nick and Warrick were doing, he heard Brass say, "Thank you Miss Watts, we may need to contact you again. Can you give me a number where..."

Grissom went over the information Kelly Watts had given him in his head. She was walking to the car park. Maybe Sara had been walking to the car park as well. He continued over to Nick and Warrick to share his revelation.

Catherine felt almost guilty, sitting uselessly inside the ambulance while Hank continually rushed, checking Sara's vital signs and who knew what else.  She held Sara's hand and gave it a squeeze. Mentally, she urged her friend to fight.

To fight. Sara would have fought her attacker. Viciously. And because Sara was a CSI she would have made sure to get some sort of evidence, so that her friends could help her. Catherine's eyes widened.

"Hank, can I borrow a pair of gloves?"

"Sure, here."

"You got some rubbing alcohol I can use?"

Hank handed it over and Catherine used it to sanitize a nail file she had in her purse. Finally, she pulled out an evidence bag that she had hanging around and began to scrape under Sara's nails. With a smile she saw what looked like skin caught underneath.

"Good job Sara. You may just crack your own case."

Grissom had combed every inch of Sara's car. There had been no sign of anything unusual. Unless you counted the two bottles of luminol in her trunk. He returned the keys to the purse Nick had found at the scene. When Grissom had left to find Sara's car, Nick and Warrick had still been processing the evidence.

Instead of immediately heading straight back to the scene, Gil leaned against Sara's car and gazed up at the faintly visible stars. He used to love stargazing when he was a child. He would go down the beach and look up at the stars. Then he had become more interested in other things. Usually dead things. Funny how things change.

Well, not always funny.

Catherine had been sitting in the same plastic chair in the waiting room next to the operating room for two hours. Two whole hours. She had counted the ceiling tiles. 17 times. There were 137 tiles. Then she had gone through the contents of her purse. Hair elastics, chewing gum, lipstick, lip-gloss, mirror, some evidence bags, and her trusty bottle of luminol. She never went anywhere without luminol. Hazard of the job.

She had sat her for two hours and had tried to think positive thoughts for Sara. That Sara was going to make it out of surgery. Be healthy and strong. Live happily ever after. Possibly with Grissom. Live until she was 102 and always carry luminol.

Two whole hours. She was just about to pick up one of the magazines that looked decades old when a middle-aged man in scrubs walked up to her.

"Ms. Willows?"

"Yes?"

"We just finished surgery on Miss Sidle. She was a very lucky young woman. The bullet that passed through her chest didn't hit her lungs, her aorta, or any ribs. The bullet that hit the artery in her arm did cause her to lose a lot of blood and fluids but we replaced those. She has some other injuries that appear to be from a fight. She has a sprained ankle, bruised ribs, various cuts and scrapes and a nasty bump on the head. Otherwise, she seems to be fine and she should come out of this just as good as new."

"Thank God! Thank you, Dr..."

"Dr. Schwann, James Schwann. I'll be looking after Sara, post-surgery as well. You'll be seeing a lot of me."

"Thank you very much. Can I see her?"

"In a few minutes. We're prepping a room for her."

"Thank you once again. Is it alright if I use my cell phone in here?"

"Yeah, it should be fine."

"Thanks."

Grissom was helping Nick comb the scene when his cell phone rang.

"Grissom."

"Hey, it's Catherine. I just finished talking with Sara's doctor. She pulled through surgery really well and they expect her to make a full recovery."

Gil let out a breath he didn't he'd been holding.

"Thank God."

"Let everyone know."

"I will."

"Oh, I have some scrapings I collected from underneath Sara's nails. You can send someone over to pick them up."

"I will."

"I'm going to see Sara now. I'll talk to you soon."

"Ok, bye."

"Bye."

Grissom hung up and saw several sets of eyes surveying him.

"Sara just got out of surgery. The doctor says she's going to make a full recovery."

There were several cheers.

Grissom smiled and then said, "Ok, now let's get down to business."

Catherine sat on the chair that had been placed next to Sara's bed. It was shocking how pale she was. All the other times Catherine had seen her she had been full of life, her face tan with a healthy glow. Now she looked…  Catherine couldn't come up with a word that fit the emotions she felt when she looked at Sara.

Clearing her throat, Catherine began to speak.

"Hey Sara. It's me, Catherine. The doctor said it would be a good idea if I talked to you. He said it might make you wake up faster. You did a good job in surgery. The doctor said you were really lucky that the damage wasn't more serious."

She paused and silence filled the room, interrupted only by the beeping of the heart monitor.

"You know, I always thought that being a CSI gave us a pass on this sort of thing. Like, because we deal with death everyday at work we kind of get a "Get Out of Violent Death Free" card. I always thought we'd all die peacefully in our sleep at a ripe old age. But I guess I was wrong. You've proved that twice today. What a wacky day for you, huh? Threatened with a gun and nearly shot at the scene this afternoon. And then attacked and shot tonight.

"You know we're gonna find the guy who did this. Of course, it would be a huge help if you woke up really quick and just told us. But I guess you're on some heavy medication and you need to sleep it off.

"Gris is really worried about you. Actually the whole team is worried about you. I think you almost gave Brass a heart attack when he found you. But honestly, I think Gil is taking this the hardest. He's had to deal with your near death twice today. I think you've gotten the point across. He's paying attention to you now, Sara.

"We all love you. I hope you know that. I hope that you weren't scared and alone when you were lying there on the sidewalk. I hope that you knew we were coming. That we would come rescue you from this. I think we'd rescue you from a fate worse than death if we could.

"But now I've been blabbing on and on and you're probably thinking 'Cat, please shut up, I'm trying to sleep'. You're right too. I should shut up and leave you alone. I'm going to go now and help with the case but I'm absolutely positive that you won't be alone too long."

Catherine gave Sara's hand a squeeze. As she stood up she smoothed Sara's hair and smiled.

"You'll be alright girl. I'm positive."

The team had finished processing the scene just as the sun started to peek over the horizon, almost hesitant to shed light on a seemingly dark day. Nick and Warrick were packing up, preparing to head back to the lab to process data.

Brass walked up to Grissom.

"You know, what I can't figure out is why she was walking down here."

"Well, an easy way to try and find out is to check out her apartment."

"Is that where we're going next?"

"I think so. I told Catherine to meet us there."

"Alright then, let's bust this case and get this guy."

"Best idea I've heard all day."


	5. Chapter 5

TITLE: No More Death, No More Murder

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

DISCLAIMER: Characters from the show do not belong to me. I am making no profit from this piece of fiction. All other characters have been created by myself.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you all again for your very helpful reviews. My goal right now is to churn out a chapter a week because of my hectic schedule. However, just so you guys don't feel like you're being jipped I'm going to make every attempt to make sure they're nice and long to make up for the lesser frequency of their appearance. Enjoy and please let me know what you think.

Reviews always welcome.

Grissom and Catherine surveyed the door in front of them. 16 was displayed in brass numbers and based on the tenant list it belonged to S. Sidle. Pulling out the key he had removed from Sara's purse, Grissom unlocked the door. Stepping inside he took a deep breath and smelled the scent that was indefinable and purely Sara. Blinking back regretful tears over what could have been, he began to go through her apartment.

"Just as neat as I thought it would be," Catherine commented.

Grissom had to agree. The glass coffee table in the living room was dusted, the forensic science magazines neatly stacked on top in chronological order starting with the most recent. Grissom turned his attention to the entertainment center. CD's, DVD's and videos alphabetized and organized on their own shelves. All the equipment was neatly dusted. Curious, he found himself examining some of the titles of her music and movies. She had an amazing range in taste of music from classical to rock and her movies covered almost every major time period.

Recalling why they were here Gil moved towards the bedroom with Catherine just behind.

"You know, they say that the bedroom best reflects a person and should be a place of calm and relaxation," Catherine stated as they took in the sight.

The bed was slightly rumpled, although an attempt had been made to make it look neat. The lavender sheets hung out longer on one side. There was a mystery novel on the bedside table lying next to a glass jar containing a scented candle. A lava lamp stood in the corner on the floor. On the walls were black and white photos of with a variety of subjects from people to plants. Grissom noticed that at the corner of each one was a familiar signature.

"Sara took these pictures," he said in shock.

"No kidding," Catherine said and looked at them more closely. "They're amazing."

"Yeah."

Then he noticed something out of place in the neatness and organization of Sara's apartment. A pile of clothes on the floor near the doorway to what appeared to be the bathroom. He picked them up and examined them.

"Workout clothes," he stated to catch Catherine's attention.

"Maybe she went to workout to release some of the stress. You know, nearly being killed and all she may have needed some way to work that out of her system."

"We should check and see if she has a membership anywhere."

"I'll get right on it," Catherine said and walked out of the room, cell phone in hand.

As Grissom distantly heard her speaking to someone at the lab about going through Sara's purse and checking for a gym membership, he once again surveyed the room. It was more feminine and soft than he would have imagined. There was so much he didn't know about this woman that he wanted to find out. And he still wasn't sure he would ever get that chance.

After exiting her room he caught sight of Brass surveying photographs on top of several pieces of furniture.

"Check this out," Brass said, beckoning to Grissom, "these must have been taken when Sara was at university and then there are several that are more recent."

Grissom turned his gaze to the photographs. There was a picture of Sara in a Harvard sweatshirt smiling and laughing at the camera. Sara hugging a short blonde woman also in a Harvard sweater. Then there was a picture of her with the blonde woman and a taller dark-haired man with green eyes, all three with their arms around each other.

"Friends from Harvard?" Brass guessed.

"It would appear that way," Grissom replied.

Then he looked at photos that appeared more recent. She was again with the blonde woman and the dark-haired man. And then there was a picture of her with her arms around a little girl who had amazingly similar features.

"Who is that little girl?" Brass asked aloud, voicing Gil's own thoughts.

A female voice from behind them said, "That would be my daughter."

Grissom turned around to see the short blonde woman from the photos.

"Sara didn't tell me there would be other people here for breakfast. Who are you? Friends, colleagues?"

"I'm Gil Grissom, this is Jim Brass and the woman over there is Catherine Willows. We work with Sara. Now, who are you?"

Striding forward she shook his hand with a firm grip. "Ashley Kerrigan, I'm a friend of Sara's. Where is she by the way?"

Hanging up her phone, Catherine replied, "In the hospital."

Nick and Warrick walked into the lab bone-tired. Processing the scene had been tough on them. There had been so much blood and the thought that it was probably Sara's sickened them both.

"I'm gonna drop off this sample of blood that didn't match the spatter and I'm gonna give Sara's clothes to trace and see if they can find anything," Warrick stated wearily to Nick.

"I'll meet you in the break room."

"Pour me some coffee. Black."

"You got it."

Striding into trace he nearly ran into Greg who was walking backwards.

"Greg, what are you doing?"

"Trying to get the best view of the hallway."

"And you would be doing that why?"

"None of your business."

"Ok then.  Has anybody told you about what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

Warrick took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy.

"Sara was attacked last night. She was shot twice and she's in the hospital recovering from surgery."

"What?" the look of shock on Greg's face was painful.

Warrick tried to distract Greg by getting him involved with the reason Warrick had come to trace in the first place.

"You have Sara's DNA on file?"

"Yeah," Greg answered, distracted.

"Good, I want you to run it against this sample and see if it matches. If it doesn't see if you can find who it belongs to."

"Ok."

"Oh and check this out," Warrick said as he placed an evidence bag on the counter. It appeared to hold something made out of black cloth.

"What is it?"

"The dress Sara was wearing when she was found. There are several unidentified substances on it. See if you can figure out what they are."

"Alright."

"I'm going to get some coffee but Nick and I will be around. If you can't find us let someone else on the team know. We're all working this case."

"Sara and I met at Harvard," Ashley Kerrigan began, "we were roommates all four years. She was studying physics and I was taking law. We both had similar backgrounds. My parents had been hippies, actually they still basically are and we had had similar experiences."

"You were good friends after university as well?" Grissom asked.

"Oh yeah, we kept in touch. Tried see each other as often as we could but with our jobs it was a little difficult."

"Who is this man in the pictures?" Grissom asked pointing to the dark-haired man with green eyes.

Ashley barely looked at it. "That's Jake. Sara and he dated for a while at Harvard but it didn't work out and they ended up being friends. He's an anthropologist now.  I think he's working somewhere in Africa right now."

"Why are you here Miss Kerrigan?" Catherine asked.

"Conference all week. I'm the delegate from my firm. Sara was thrilled when she heard I was coming out here. We made some plans for some early morning stuff but she said she couldn't really do too much at night cause she was working and I was at the conference during the day. We were planning to do some stuff this weekend."

"Did you see Sara last night?" Brass questioned.

"Yeah, she phoned around four yesterday and said that things had changed at work and that she had the night off. We met at a bar Sara had discovered and really liked. Good-looking guys, good music, good food. It was a nice place."

"Did you meet anyone else there?" Catherine asked.

"A couple of guys bought us some drinks. This hot guy started to hit on Sara but then she said she had to leave. I think something is going on with her."

"Did the man follow her out?" Grissom asked.

"No, she left and the two guys and I had some more fun before I headed back to my hotel around midnight."

"Alright, thank you," Gil said.

"Where can I visit Sara?" Ashley asked.

Catherine informed her of the hospital and room that Sara was in. Before she could impart any more information her cell phone rang.

Brass showed Ashley out and then returned, joining Grissom as they listened to the cryptic end of Catherine's conversation. When she hung up they looked at her questioningly.

"Gil, you need to get everyone who's working on this case together. We need to have a meeting."

Nick and Warrick sat at the table in the break room. They looked up questioningly at Grissom when he entered.

"What's up Gris?" Nick asked.

"I don't know. Catherine wouldn't tell me."

Brass came in and joined them. The table was finally filled when Catherine arrived with Greg in tow. Catherine refused to sit and began to pace along the front of the room.

"What's up Cath?" Warrick asked.

"I just got off the phone with Sara's doctor."

"Is she awake?" Grissom asked.

"No."

"That's not good. She shouldn't be unconscious for this long," Brass commented.

"I know. The doctor said they ran all kinds of tests. They said she isn't in a coma, her brain isn't swelling, she doesn't have a concussion and all of her blood work came back normal."

"Then why is she still unconscious?" Greg asked.

"They don't know. The doctor told me that even with some of the miracles of science, doctors still have a hard time understanding some of the brain's and body's reactions to trauma and stress," Catherine said the last part with a sense of irony.

She was greeted with silence.

"Do they know if she'll wake up?" Grissom finally asked, dreading the answer.

"They think she will. They've been monitoring her brain activity and they say it's normal. They said we'll just have to wait."

When Catherine finished her sentence, Greg jumped up and left the room. Catherine turned to go after him but was stopped by Grissom.

"Just let him go. He needs to deal with this in his own way."

As Catherine turned back to look at him she was surprised by the deep sorrow present in Gil Grissom's blue eyes.

"Are you alright?" she whispered.

He blinked and now she surveyed only the mask he always wore. He looked at her blankly and walked off in the direction of his office.

Greg sat in the chair next to the hospital bed. He looked at Sara's pale face in shock. It was wrong. This shouldn't have happened. He grasped her hand in his.

"Hey Sara. It's me, Greg. I can bet I know what you're thinking, 'What is that guy doing holding my hand when he should be in the lab?'. Well, I'm on a break. A long break."

His conversation with Sara's silent form was interrupted when a doctor rushed in.

"What did you do to her?" the doctor demanded.

"Nothing, I was just talking to her. Why?"

"Her brain activity just increased exponentially. She can hear you and her brain is trying to get her body to react. Keep talking to her. Maybe it will help her wake up."

Greg watched the doctor's retreating back and then turned back to the brunette in the bed.

"I knew you could hear me. I'm working on the case you know. You're case. They have me analyzing some trace stuff on your dress. I must admit I have a hard time picturing you in that dress. Actually, that's a lie. I can picture you in it I'd just really like to see you in it. To the tell truth I think all the guys in the lab would like to see you in it.  Maybe you could wear it for work some time. Or change into it after shift and just walk through the hallways. I think every guy on shift would drop his jaw to the floor. Even Grissom.

"We're worried about you, you know that. The doctor doesn't understand why you aren't waking up. Maybe you could wake up for me and then you could really help us out on the case. I know you'd really like to.

"Hey, maybe when you wake up I could take you out to dinner," Greg paused, "Damn, I was sure that would make you wake up just so you could say no and set me back on the straight and narrow. Guess not.

"I should head back to the lab and check on your results. I'll try and come back soon. You just do me a favor and fight to wake up, ok? We all really need you to wake up."


	6. Chapter 6

TITLE: No More Death, No More Murder

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

DISCLAIMER: All characters from CSI do not belong to me and I am making no profit from this piece of fiction. I created any characters that are not from the show.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm sorry to all of you who have been keeping up with my little fic. My internet went on the fritz and I had absolutely none for a WHOLE WEEK AND A HALF. EEK!!! Thankfully now that it has returned my internet deprivation did not get out of hand (I was THIS close) and I can continue writing for all you wonderful people who just make my day with your reviews (hint, hint). For all of you romantics out there (just like myself), I promise Sara is going to wake up and there will most definitely be some GS. Just be patient.

Reviews always welcome.

Jim Brass sat next to Sara's bed in the chair that had been provided. He was holding her hand, something he never would have done had she been conscious, but the peculiar circumstances somehow seemed to make it permissible. He hadn't spoken to her still form except to tell her he was present. It seemed almost forbidden to speak and disturb the silence, as if Sara were sleeping. He'd always been fond of Sara, for some unknown reason. She'd always been kind and polite to him and had treated him like a human being and he felt obliged to do the same. He squeezed her hand, and feeling slightly guilty he broke the silence.

"I might have to tell them Sara. Depending on how this investigation goes I may have to tell them about what you had me do when you first came to Vegas. I know you never wanted to tell them, but it may become necessary. I promise to only tell them if the investigation heads in that direction, ok?"

There was silence. Preparing to leave, Brass suddenly felt Sara squeeze his hand. Shocked, he stared at her face that was a calm as before. He then surveyed the monitor that monitored Sara's brain activity. There was a huge spike and then it leveled off again.

"I promise I'll only tell them if it's necessary. I promise."

Grissom glanced up as he heard the rustle of clothing. Catherine was leaning against the doorframe of his office.

"Where were you?" she asked.

"Around."

"Really."

There was a pause.

"Have we contacted Sara's parents?" Grissom asked.

"I tried. They're touring Egypt on camels. They went totally authentic. No cell phones."

"Interesting."

"I think it would be a general pain in the ass riding a camel across the desert, but hey who am I to judge?"

"You come to see me for a reason, Catherine?"

"Yeah, I did actually. When we got back here I was going over our conversation with Ashley and something didn't strike me right about her comments about Jake."

"Who?"

"Sara's ex-boyfriend from Harvard. The one she broke up with because it didn't work out so now they're friends. Just the way Ashley didn't say much about the break-up made me curious. So I called her."

"And what did you find out?"

"That Sara and Jake broke up because she felt Jake was getting to clingy. He was constantly trying to be with her and it began to upset her. So they broke up. A little later Sara felt enough time had passed and they went back to being friends."

"Doesn't seem suspicious to me."

"It didn't seem that way to me at first either, but my gut was saying something wasn't right, so I asked Ashley what she meant by 'clingy'."

"And?"

"Jake would call her every hour on the hour. He would show up at the beginning and end of each class. She would go places and he would just show up, even though she hadn't told him where she was going. He tried to get her to only spend time with him."

"Sounds like he was stalking her."

"It sounded like that to me too. And then I thought, well, maybe he never really got over Sara."

"Even if he hasn't, he's in Africa on an anthropological study, remember?"

"That's the thing. I checked with the airlines and customs. Jake Sullivan flew in from Harare, Zimbabwe and landed in Las Vegas, Nevada last week."

"Did I hear you right? Is Jake Sullivan in Vegas?" Brass broke in from behind.

"Yeah, what do you know about him?" Catherine asked.

"More than I really want to. You should sit down."

Catherine sat down in the chair on the other side of Grissom's. They both turned to look at Brass expectantly. He surveyed both their faces, stepped into the room further and began to speak.

"When Sara first came to Vegas I noticed that she seemed a little worried, distracted. I spoke to her about it because I knew that if she was distracted at the wrong moment on a scene she could end up dead."

He paused for a moment realizing how ironic that statement was. Clearing his throat he continued.

"She said she was worried about one of her friends from school. She said he had followed her home to San Francisco. Apparently he had gotten a job there to be close to her. It had spooked her so when the job here came she jumped on it. But now her friend had taken a leave of absence and had followed her to Vegas. She cared about her friend, but she knew his behavior wasn't healthy and she wanted some way to get him back to the real world.  Her friend's name was Jake Sullivan."

Shock registered on both Catherine's and Grissom's faces.

"I helped her get a restraining order, but buried it so no one else would really know about it. A couple weeks later Jake Sullivan went back to San Francisco and they went back to being friends. Sara dropped the restraining order about a month later."

"Was Jake ever violent?" Grissom asked.

"He threatened her several times but never actually did anything."

"Well, maybe he did get violent this time." Catherine said.

"Maybe," Grissom agreed, "let's see if we can track down Jake Sullivan."

"I'm on that." Catherine said, jumping out of her chair and heading out of his office. As she left she nearly collided into Nick and Warrick who were just coming in.

"How did things go at the gym?" Grissom asked.

"We met Sara's workout partner," Warrick said.

"He's an ex-cop who teaches a self-defense course. He met Sara at one of his courses and they became friends. They work out together a couple times a week," Nick added.

"Did he say if anything unusual happened during her workout before she was attacked?" Grissom asked.

"He said Sara was stressed," Warrick stated, "not surprising, seeing she was nearly shot that afternoon."

Grissom nodded.

"He did say that Sara got a call from someone named Ashley. And then she got one that was a hang-up. He said that she said she'd been getting quite a few of those lately," Nick finished.

"Maybe our friend Jake has been checking up on Sara," Brass commented.

"Maybe," Grissom agreed.

They were interrupted by Catherine who rushed into the office.

"Jake Sullivan was staying at the Mirage. He checked out two hours ago. I did learn something interesting though," she finished.

"What's that?" Nick asked curious.

"Our friend Jake is a Texan," she said, looking meaningfully at Nick.

"I guess that means I'm going to interview Sara," Nick said.

"Warrick, go with Nick, we may catch this guy yet," Grissom said.

"Let's hope so," Brass added as the team broke up and headed in different directions.


	7. Chapter 7

TITL-E: No More Death, No More Murder

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

DISCLAIMER: You guys know the ones from the show don't belong to me. And you also know that anyone that isn't from the show is mine.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am SO sorry this has taken so long, I've just been super busy lately. I had planned to have this finished by now but obviously that hasn't worked out. Thank you for being so patient.

Reviews always welcome.

Nick and Warrick walked into Sara's hospital room and stopped short. Neither of them had seen her at the scene.  The last time Nick had seen her she was still in shock from nearly being shot. Checking his watch he was surprised to see that it had only been two days ago. It had seemed like an eternity that Sara had been here, still and motionless, not aiding them in the investigation, helping them catch the bad guy. It was wrong.

Warrick walked up to Sara's side, and bending over, he whispered into her ear.

"Hey Sar, think you could wake up and make this interview easier for us?"

There was no response, except for a slight beep from the brain monitor. Turning to look at it, Warrick saw a relatively small spike in activity.

"Alright then. I guess that means we're just going to have to do this the hard way."

Once again there was no response.

"Ok because I know you can hear me I'm gonna tell how this is gonna go. I'm gonna tell you what's been going on with the case and at the end I'll ask you a question and Nick is going to chip in there.   The whole time we're going to monitor your brain activity. If there are any significant spikes we're gonna take that as a 'yes'. Sound fair?"

There was once again no noise except for the beep of the brain monitor, which showed a large spike.

"Good girl," Warrick whispered.

"Here we go," he began, "Catherine found out from Ashley about your break-up with Jake. And then Brass told us about the restraining order. After that, Cath checked with the airports and found out that Jake flew into Vegas from Africa last week. Did you know about that?"

There was no unusual activity on the brain monitor.

"That's a no. Well, we didn't think so. But now is the part where Nick comes in. Did your attacker sound like this?"

At Warrick's question, Nick took his cue to speak.

"Hey there Sara, hope you'll get better soon. It'd be great to see you right as rain," Nick said, with a wonderful Texan drawl.

Almost simultaneously from when Nick began to speak there was a loud beep from the brain monitor and a huge spike lit up the screen.

"Ok Sara, calm down. We got the message," Warrick said, patting her hand.

"I'm gonna go phone Grissom," Nick said as he headed out the door, "let him know that our suspicions were right."

"K," Warrick replied and then turned back to Sara.

"I have well wishes from some of the guys at the casino, I'm sure you know who. Everyone's worried about you, Sar. You shouldn't be unconscious for this long. I think Grissom's about ready to have a breakdown. He's really worried about you and he keeps disappearing. And then when he comes back...it's like he wants to be somewhere else. But all this talk isn't gonna help you wake up so I'll let you get back to healing."

As he stood up he gave Sara a light peck on the forehead.

"Hang in there," he whispered.

Warrick joined Nick in the parking lot, just as he finished hanging up.

"They wouldn't let me use my cell phone in the hospital," Nick said in explanation.

Warrick nodded as he pulled out the keys for the lab's Explorer.

"Hey, do you mind if I go up and have a quick visit with Sara while we're here?" Nick asked.

"Nah, just did that myself," Warrick replied, I'll meet you at the truck."

"Sounds good," Nick said, as he headed back into the building.

Nick walked down the corridor towards Sara's room. He tried to smile at several of the strained faces sitting in chairs along the hall, but he felt the emotional strain himself. It was hard to deal with the fact that someone he cared about had been on the verge of death and could still slip in that direction. As he got closer to the room, he noticed a tall man with dark hair slink into her room. Nick tried to figure out why the man looked so familiar when it suddenly hit him. That was Jake. The Jake. The one who had shot Sara. The one who was now in her room. He quickly grabbed a nurse.

"Go phone the police now and tell them that Jake Sullivan has just been seen entering Sara Sidle's hospital room. Tell them that Nick Stokes is going to attempt to apprehend him."

The nurse stared at him in shock for a moment before running down the hallway at full speed. Nick watched her leave and slowly walked towards the door, his gun drawn. He peered around the corner and saw Jake, holding a pillow, speaking to Sara. He leaned in closer to the doorframe and listened; maybe the bastard would incriminate himself.

"Sara, Sara, Sara, why didn't you listen? I told you if you were just quiet and you came back with me to San Francisco everything would be fine. But no dahling, you had to go and fight me, and look where that got you. Here in this hospital bed, with a hole in you. If you had just listened...but you didn't. And I can't have you waking up now so I'm going to have to do this."

Nick watched in horror, as Jake placed the pillow over Sara's head and began to smother her.

"I'm sorry Sara," Jake whispered quietly, with a tear running down his cheek.

"FREEZE!!!!!" Nick yelled, pointing his gun at Jake.

Jake whirled around, in the process dropping the pillow. As soon as he saw the gun, he put his hands in the air.

"Hands behind your head," Nick heard a voice say behind him.

He turned and saw Brass just behind him. He sighed with relief. They'd caught the bad guy and everything else would be good now. He turned and looked back at Sara's silent form. He hoped.

Grissom sat down in the now familiar chair beside Sara's bed. He sighed deeply and held her hand in the familiar way that he had in the past two days. Two days. It had only been two days. It seemed like an eternity. He squeezed her hand.

"It's me again. I know you must be thinking, 'Grissom is here again? Doesn't he ever work anymore?' and it would seemingly appear that I'm not. But I'll use the excuse that I'm wrapping up the investigation by informing the vic...you of what has happened with the case. You were here for the apprehension so you know we got him. He's been charged with two counts of attempted murder and with the fantastic evidence we have it should put him away for a good long time. So it's safe now for you to wake up, he can't hurt you anymore."

He was silent for several minutes, hoping for a Sleeping Beauty moment when she would just blink and open her eyes and smile at him. It didn't work.

"Well, I have some confessions to make. And they involve you and me. Us, if you will. Before you were shot, I wasn't at the office. I was out driving around, thinking about you and how I could possibly ask you out to dinner. And wondering if you would even say yes after all the times I've said no. Then this happened. It was a huge wake up call. It was like one of those neon signs down on the strip said 'Grissom, Sara is very important to you.' I've never told you that before. Well, except for now. And this doesn't really count because you can't even open your eyes, or tell me what is going on in that head of yours."

He paused again and just gazed at Sara's face and thought about all the things he might miss with her if she never again opened her brown eyes.

Pulling her hand close to his face, and closing his eyes he said, "If I could just turn back time, if it's even possible to find a way."

"Please don't start singing Cher songs, it would ruin the moment."

Grissom's head whipped up to see Sara's eyes open and a weak smile on her lips.


	8. Chapter 8

TITLE: No More Death, No More Murder

AUTHOR: Micky Fine

DISCLAIMER: You know who are mine and who aren't. I am making absolutely no money from this (just too bad).

ARCHIVE: You want it, just ask. I love giving things away .

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well guys, this is it. The end of this fic. I've become very attached to it and I want to thank EVERYONE who has read it, and especially those who have posted reviews. You made my first expedition into CSI fic land very enjoyable. I will return. I am calling this a chapter but there are some more "epilogue-ish" elements at the beginning. I just had to put them in there. Once again thank you to everyone.

Reviews always welcome.

Catherine smiled as she walked down the hallway. Everything was almost back to normal. Or as normal as things could be when you dealt with dead bodies every day. Sara had been out of the hospital for a week. Unfortunately, she couldn't work quite yet because of her bullet wounds and because she had a couple broken bones in her foot the doctors hadn't noticed until after she woke up.

However, just because she couldn't work didn't mean she couldn't come to the lab. Catherine had in fact held the door open for Sara as she had swung into the building on her crutches. It was nice to see her workaholic side had not disappeared.

Catherine entered the locker room so she could grab her lunch. As she opened the door an unexpected small piece of white paper, folded in half came fluttering down. As she bent down to pick it up she saw her name scrawled on the front side of the folded paper. She opened it and read:

Catherine-

Looks like I did get that Get Out of Violent Death Free card after all. Just took me awhile to find it. I know you were worried that I felt alone before everyone showed up. I wasn't. I knew that you would all figure it out, even if you didn't have me to help. Thank you for everything you did.

-Sara

As Catherine folded the sheet of paper she smiled and wiped away a stray tear that wandered from her watery eyes.

Greg bopped his head and began humming as he entered the trace lab. He'd just seen Sara in the hallway on her crutches. She had smiled at him and chatted for a moment before going to get some coffee. It had put him in an infinitely good mood. He flipped on his stereo as he walked toward the microscope. He had a left slide on there before he had gone on break and he was eager to finish looking at it.

However, when he gazed through the eyepiece he didn't see the fibers he'd been looking at before. Instead he saw a something white with a black streak on it. He pulled away from the microscope and pulled out a folded piece of white paper with his name on it. Unfolding it he read:

Greg-

Thanks for coming to visit me and for everything you did on the case. And now, because you were so nice, I'm gonna make you a deal. You give me back my little black dress and I'll wear it after shift and let you show me off before we have dinner. Understand this is not a date, just two friends going out. Got that?

-Sara

PS Your slide is in its container.

Jim Brass was disturbed from his thoughts when he heard a loud whoop coming from the trace lab. He looked in the room and saw Greg moonwalking across the lab floor. Shaking his head, he continued on to his office.

With a sigh, he flopped in his chair and turned to look at his desk. In the center, was a small piece of white paper folded with his name on it.  He picked it up and read:

Brass-

Thanks for the first-aid. And for knowing when not to keep a secret. And for being a cop.

-Sara

He smiled and placed the paper in a desk drawer and then went back to work.

Warrick opened the cupboard in the break room and pulled out his mug. He had just seen Sara coming out and she had told him the coffee was fantastic and that he had to have some. As he looked into his mug, he was puzzled to find a small piece of white paper, folded in half, stuck inside the mug. He pulled it out and read:

Warrick-

Thank you for reading my mind (well, kind of). You're the best interviewer I could ask for. Tell the guys at the casino I'll come and visit real soon. And then you'll have to play for me.

-Sara

"Coffee," he muttered incredulously.

Nick stuck his hand into the pocket of his jeans and was surprised when he felt the texture of a piece of paper. Pulling it out he was, puzzled by the small piece of white paper, folded in half. It was somewhat crumpled from being in his pocket. Smoothing it out, he read:

Nick-

Thank you for saving my life and for all the stuff you did with the case. You can speak in that sweet southern twang of yours for me anytime.

-Sara

PS Bet you didn't know I could pick your pocket.

Grissom was in a good mood as he walked into his office. Sara had come to visit the lab today and she had come to see him first. She had told him that she wasn't even going to touch a file, even though she was itching to. She promised she wouldn't overdo it and that she was just coming to chat with people and wouldn't interrupt their work. Too much. He had just seen her in the hallway and she had informed him that she was going home. She had said her shoulder had been exceedingly sore between the crutches and the bullet wound.

He stopped in front of his desk, surprised, to see that in the midst of the organized chaos was a small piece of white paper folded in half with his name on it. He recognized the handwriting immediately and rushed to unfold it. Quickly, he read:

Gris-

Come by my place when you're done shift. We need to talk.

-Sara

Grissom stood at the apartment door and was about to knock again when the door was pulled open. He was surprised to see Sara in her bathrobe; hair pulled up into a towel, her crutches safely nestled under each arm.

"Sorry," she said breathlessly, "I just got out of the tub. Mind if I go get dressed?"

"Take your time," he said, somewhat shocked.

Sara disappeared back into what he knew was the bedroom and he surveyed the apartment. Nothing had changed since he had been here to investigate. Even the pictures of Sara with Jake were in the same position. Not wanting it to appear like he was snooping he sat down on the couch and picked up a forensic magazine. He was idly flipping through it when Sara returned.

"Sorry," she apologized again.

"It's fine," he said, "you're entitled to take a bath in your own home."

"I should hope so," she said with a small smile.

"So, what's this about? You said we needed to talk."

"Yeah, I have some questions for you, but I'm not quite ready to ask them so..."

She trailed off and silence reigned for several minutes. Suddenly remembering the bag in his hand, Grissom handed a paper bag to Sara.

"Greg gave this to me when he found out I was coming to visit. He was very insistent."

Sara looked curious as she opened the bag and then smiled when she saw the contents.

"What is it?" Grissom asked.

"My dress."

Grissom nodded. He had seen the outfit in the lab and he had to admit to himself that he wanted to see her wearing it. Sara placed the bag on the floor and then began to study her hands. Feeling a need to break the silence, Grissom asked one of the questions that had been gnawing at him since he had visited her apartment.

"Why do you take pictures?"

"What?"

"The pictures in your bedroom, why do you take them?"

"I guess it reminds me that there are still good things in life. When I take a picture of a little kid buying a balloon it helps me to deal with the horrible things I see at work. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it does. Perfect sense. They're beautiful pictures by the way."

"Thank you," Sara said as she flushed.

Glancing around, Grissom once again noticed the picture of Sara with her arms around a young girl. The girl he now knew was Sara's friend, Ashley's daughter. He was again struck by the similarity between Sara and the little girl.

"She looks like you."

"Who?"

"Ashley's daughter."

Sara smiled, "That's Bridget. She should look like me."

"Why do you say that?"

Sara looked thoughtful for a moment as she mentally debated. After a moment one side had obviously won and she began to speak.

"Ashley is infertile. So I donated some eggs for her and her husband. Therefore, Bridget is my biological daughter."

Grissom was shocked at the selfless act that Sara had done for her friend. Sara gave him a nervous look. He smiled and her face eased. He turned back to look at the photo of Sara and Bridget but his eye was caught instead by the picture of Sara and Jake.

"Why didn't you tell me? Or even the team?"

"About what? Jake?"

"Yes."

"Because...because...because he's a good friend. And his fiancée had been keeping him in check."

"His fiancée?"

"Yeah, Melissa suffers from schizophrenia. She and Jake met while undergoing treatment. She takes her meds religiously and she makes sure Jake takes them too. But when he went to Africa she couldn't go with him. He went off his meds and came after me."

"Why is that? Why didn't he go to his fiancée?"

"The doctors aren't sure. Apparently I become his mental focus when he suffers from his illness. It seems that I was a major event in his life that he keeps returning to, it was while he was dating me that this disease showed up."

"Do they know what it is?"

"Some form of paranoia combined with schizophrenia is the diagnosis."

"I see."

There was silence for a moment as Grissom digested the astounding new information he had just learned about Sara. It was shocking how little he knew about her, even after he had spent so much time with her.

"Gris?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go out for dinner?"

"Right now?"

"No, but you said in the hospital that..."

"I know what I said. And I meant it."

"I'm glad. So as soon as my foot heals and I have dinner with Greg," Grissom shot her a look, "don't ask, I would be pleased to join you for dinner."

She smiled. He smiled back and then surprised them both by pulling her into a warm embrace. As she rubbed her cheek against his chest she muttered softly, "And you're important to me to."

Fin


End file.
